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Job listing signals Amazon’s VR intent

A new job listing for Amazon provides further evidence that the retail giant is planning a big move into the VR space.

The listing for a senior VR software development manager states that the company is looking for someone to ‘lead the development of a completely new VR shopping experience at Amazon.’

The successful applicant will be part of the consumer experience technology (CXT) team, which is responsible for the shopping experience across desktop, tablet. Mobile and the web.

The listing states that the CXT team’s aim is:

“to provide simple, fluid, and beautiful experiences from the home page to checkout while enabling customers to make informed buying decisions, and delighting them along the way.”

The listing seems to show that the company has a VR strategy that it is working from. The listing goes on to state that the successful applicant will ‘deliver Amazon’s vision of VR shopping’ and will ‘take our technology, architecture, and user experience to the next level’.

An emerging strategy

The anticipation over what form Amazon’s VR strategy will take has been growing for some time.

In March 2016, Upload VR reported that another job listing (since removed, presumably filled) for the Amazon Video team added a little more detail.

The listing stated that:

“Entertainment is evolving rapidly. The Virtual Reality team will explore and create the platform and interface for immersive storytelling. This will include an ingestion and playback platform for Virtual Reality experiences.”

While this is related to a different aspect of the business from the retail position, it does signal a move by the company towards utilising the technology in a number of ways. The company has previously patented a number of designs for smart glasses and launched a landing page for VR products.

What is the retail giant planning? Only time will tell, but the tech industry is likely waiting with bated breath.